Re: VIN number oddity on a 1940 120

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2009/1/19 18:26:16

That doesn't sound correct, every car manufacturer issued a OEM (original equipment manufacturer's) certificate of origin to the first dealer who sold the car and that's the document that the dealer transferred to obtain the original owner's title.

But both Packard and Chrysler caused a lot of confusion after WW II by continuing essentially the same car from one year to another. Those Packards that are 22XX-9-XXXXX could either be a true 49, or a left-over 48 with a new VN plate and certificate issued to avoid having to sell it as a left-over. The same thing happens again with 23XX-5-XXXX which could either be a 1949, a 50, or a 1949 renumbered by the factory to sell as a 1950. There are well-documented cases of these things occuring. The only way to tell with absolute certainty is if you can find the build slip over the glove box and check the VN as built. A 23rd series with a sequence number of 70,000 or higher (for example 2392-5-77,777) is with almost alsolute certainty a 1949 23rd series renumbered. It's easy to spot a likely (but not absolute) case of renumbering by noting the difference between the Briggs body number and the vehicle number.

If a state titled a 1949 car as a 1951 I'd say it was nothing more than a clerical error.